In the water well construction, repair, and maintenance art, it is known that water well's column pipe may upon occasion break or disconnect at a joint at a subterranean location within the well's bore. Such breakage or disconnection undesirably strands a length of column pipe, and often strands an attached submersible electric water pump at the bottom of the well. In such disadvantageous circumstances, it is typically desirable to attempt to retrieve the well column pipe and attached pump in order to salvage the pump and to effectuate pipe replacement or pipe repairs.
In many cases, the upper end of such broken or disconnected well column pipe lies at an elevation several feet below the upper opening of the well casing, making it very difficult for an operator to grasp and retrieve the well column pipe. To accommodate for such difficulty, the instant inventive well column pipe catch tool provides a specialized forked bracket which may be lowered into a water well bore for contact and secure engagement with such broken or disconnected well column pipe, and for upward hoisting and retrieval of such well column pipe.